PhilaGardener wrote: ↑Mon Feb 24, 2020 5:37 am

Whwoz wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2020 5:29 am Spent the morning turning 8 lb of cucumbers into relish today. Old family recipe that goes back to the German part of my ancestory.
DSC_1143_resized.JPG
Eleven jars in total, will put the plastic lids back on the jars for storage

Whoz, as alway,s everything in your garden (and kitchen) looks fabulous!

Intrigued by those plastic film tops. How is your relish preserved (fermented)? Acidic with water bath canning (but then I don't understand the plastic)? Thanks for clarifying!

PG, the plastic film tops are preserve covers. Relish is cooked, thickened with a flour mix and hot filled into hot jars. as soon as I finish filling, a quick wipe with a clean cloth to remove any spills, a bit of vinegar on one side of the cover and on it goes, as it dries it tightens up. Preserved through the cooking, added sugar and vinegar. The cover prevents post production contamination of the relish and is a good enough seal to keep it for years. Not completely air tight so it slowly oxidises over a couple of years. I put the hard plastic tops that came on the bottles back on for storage as I double stack. The covers, Fowler's is our main home preserving aid company, equivalent to your Ball.
New vs old, brown is oxidation, out it goes
Stacked in cupboard

[quote=SQWIB post_id=11756 time=1582555697 user_id=210]
I'm loving this thread, but have to ask, why are all the pictures fuzzy looking? Every time I look at a pic I have to rub my eyes thinking it's my eyes. lol.

My apologies SQWIB, it appears that the camera lens on my phone my be scratched slightly. Not sure if I can get it repaired

Some Tomato Candy for those who need a fix... some of these have been picked for a week to 10 days.
these are not what Chang Li Cherry is supposed to be, recon that they have been crossed with yellow pear, knowing my source of the plant not sure what to make of the mix up, thought they might have a yellow pear to start, but they are better than that.
First of the season, bigger than last years efforts, plant does not look to be overly loaded.
A beautiful fruit on a tasty variety, 553 grams when picked at blush
A Spanish beauty, thanks Nico, over 500 grams when first picked
Every bit as good as the red version, probably even more productive for me.
Perhaps not as truly pear shaped as Yellow Pear is, but definitely much better flavour with a little bit of acid bite to it. Not overly productive, would probably need two plants to match one yellow pear here, but much better in taste.
June Bug from Charley on TV, two plants growing smaller fruited of the two turned up its toes early for some reason, about 33mm across, the other a red closer in size to Jaune Flamme.
The first one to start blushing, this is the last of KarenO's creations that I have available to me so far to ripen. 400 grams of big heart, heavier than I thought initially for the size and both plants are loaded up, if we like the taste, it will return and be hard to knock out of the garden. Very impressive plants.
Productive and relatively tasty for a paste, most likely to return.
The third of the half kilo maters so far, still to be tasted
Another of karenO's creations that we are still to taste.
One that Karen spoke about on TV, plants is not really happy, but will get enough to have a good taste and plenty of seed

Update on above post number 123, it appears that what I have as Chang Li Cherry is correct and the one Mcsee grew is wrong. Zena's Gift above is not correct according to KarenO on TV, taking steps to get correct one for comparison

Zena's Gift that we grew here was an enormous fruit with perfectly spaced ruffles, like pantaloons at a fashion show. Very pretty.
Tomatoes looking good, I am getting in the mood to sow some seeds!

A few that I have cut for you to enjoy
KarenO's black beefsteak, very yummy liked by kids as well
KarenO's GWR Heart (or should that be tri-color Heart), fabulous eye candy and taste
A Spanish one to finish off with today, this one went over 500 grams when first picked.

As per usual, boards under plate are 100mm/4 inches across for those who want a size reference

Looking fantastic! I love seeing sliced tomatoes where you can really see the interior color and texture.

Thank you Whwoz for the great eye candy. KarenO did herself proud creating those beautiful fruit.

Yes, Woz, your pictures are really appreciated here when it's 0 C outside.

Yikes, those tomatoes when they are cut open really shine.

Thanks folks for the kind comments, will keep the photos coming for you to appreciate. One of KarenO's big ones left to fully ripen in Midnight Sun, a few days away yet

Thank you for posting! Happy to see them and very pleased that you enjoy the flavour especially. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on midnight sun and your correct Zena’s gift seed will be sent on Monday
KarenO

Thank you Karen, picked first True Colours today

Thank you for sharing your Whwoz photos.
I am very happy to see some of my favorite tomatoes in your country and and above all that you liked. "Garrote bicolor" is a Spanish relic cultivated by several generations of the same family, its full name is "Garrote bicolor Aracenes", it belongs to a town of southern Andalucia (Aracena), perhaps it is the town where it rains the most during the year.
Robledillo de la jara is also another of my favorites, another Spanish relic, another tomato with an authentic old flavor belongs to a town located in the Sierra Norte of the Community of Madrid

Nico, thank you for the opportunity to grow them, they have done well especially Garrote bicolor Aracenes, which has survived our wettest summer in the 15 or so years we have been on our block superbly (300mm/12inches for the 3 months), not looking back, passed a couple more onto a mate today, will see what he thinks of them in a couple of days when I see him again. Robledillo de la jara we will eat tomorrow for the first time, looking forward to it.

Expanding main garden bed to roughly triple in size, may be even closer to 4 times to allow for extra tomatos and garlic yippee!!

A bit better look at the June Bug F2's, will probably grow on the smaller of the two next season at this stage, may even go back and try some more F2 seed Cut the big Dana's Dusky Rose the other Day, a lot of meat in it,

How is the taste of Dana's for you? For me it was pretty good. Good enough to grow it again some day.

Dana's is delicous, especially considering that we are running nearly 3 x our normal rainfall for this time of year, with corresponding low light levels. Our dam is actually filling up rather than being emptied. Will definitely be returning and going to Mum and Dads next season.

Trout Cods

I have mentioned these before, this is PL1 one of the shortest of them at around 500mm high, fruit are around 75 mm or 3 Inches across. Only 7 or 8 fruit on the plant, but for the size of fruit relative to plant, quite acceptable at this stage. Nothing ripe on this one yet, one of the others has ripened one.

Boy, am I glad I can finally access this place on my internet again without modem hassles.

That Dusky Rose looks gorgeous. I can almost taste it!